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Sunday, March 14, 2010

This is my favorite Mahalia Jackson track in the world; Walk Over God's Heaven. And it's a key to all the other spirituals I know.

Few people I know truly hear what this song says. We get that the slaves had no shoes. They didn't have enough clothes. And on the surface, this song sounds like these slaves accepted this situation and in some cases were cheerfully waiting for Glory. Even better than stoics under adversity.

Every time the slaves were asked to sing for the Big House, those same slaves were telling the Big House that the practice of their creed was wanting. That force was on the side of the Big House, but God expected something different. And that given the opportunity, they were walking away from this poor state of affairs.

By calling it heaven, they meant God's heaven. But they also meant they considered their present position hell. It was a communication of disagreement under a seeming agreement. It was resistance, even the seeds of revolution. The jubilation comes, I think, from finding a way to speak their mind without reprisal.